Detroit 3 headlines

July 28, 2013

Ford's supply struggles slow industry sales

Automakers will report Thursday that July sales in the U.S. were strong, but one analyst said Friday that the pace may fall below June’s annual rate of 15.9 million because Ford is struggling to keep up with demand.

“The driver of the slowdown appears to be almost entirely Ford, whose inventory of Focus, Fusion, Explorer and Escape has become extremely tight,” Deutsche Bank analyst Rod Lache wrote in a report to clients.

Lache estimated that the annual selling rate would be 400,000 units higher “if Ford achieved the same proportion of sales that it has been achieving year-to-date.” He said Ford’s market share could decline to 14.3%, compared with 16.2% year-to-date.

“We expect to address these constraints in the second half with the launch of Fusion at our Flat Rock assembly plant and an increase in Explorer capacity at our Chicago facility,” Shanks said. In addition, Ford is putting on a third crew at its Kansas City pickup plant.

Coming up: Ford will give media members a tour of its Flat Rock assembly plant on Wednesday.

CEO visits Toledo to check Cherokee output

CEO Sergio Marchionne visited Chrysler’s Toledo Assembly complex Thursday to check into the status of production of the company’s new Jeep Cherokee.

Chrysler is building more than 150 Cherokees a day in Toledo, or less than 15% of what it needs to reach more than 275,000 annually. Production of the all-new Jeep Cherokee began last Wednesday.

Dealers should begin receiving the Cherokee in August with higher volumes arriving in September.

Sales of the Cherokee should help to improve Chrysler’s overall sales during the second half of the year.

Lutz enjoys GM's success in retirement

Former General Motors Vice Chairman Bob Lutz, who was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame Thursday, said he was enjoying GM’s recent success in his retirement.

Lutz said that GM’s $1.2 billion second-quarter earnings, combined with the news that Consumer Reports named the all-new Chevrolet Impala as the best sedan and data showing people are paying more for GM vehicles showed that priorities he tried to instill at GM are lasting.